Hyde County Substance Awareness Task Force

The Hyde County Substance Awareness Taskforce is a collection of community leaders and citizens working towards a healthy, productive, drug-free community through increased prevention education, awareness of and access to counseling and treatment resources, and enforcement of relevant laws. Substances that clinically and functionally impair our bodies and minds, causing health problems and disabilities include, but are not limited to alcohol, marijuana, cocaine and/or crack, and opioids, like pain pills and heroin.

The drug epidemic plaguing our country is not limited to the big cities and does not discriminate by age, race, sex or financial means. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's National Survey on Drug Use and Health, in 2016 more than 11 million Americans misused prescription opioids. Many of them are increasingly turning to more potent illicit supplies of heroin and fentanyl, which are cheap and readily available on the street and online. Yet only about 10 percent of Americans who suffer from substance abuse receive specialized addiction treatment, according to a report by the surgeon general.

Opioid overdoses killed more than 45,000 people in the 12 months that ended in September 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the death toll from opioids could climb for years to come. An estimated 40% of opioid overdose deaths involved a prescription opioid. The epidemic is now responsible for nearly as many American deaths per year as AIDS was at the peak of that crisis.

This website is just one of many ideas the task force has implemented. It will provide information on drug prevention, education, treatment and law enforcement options. We will update this site regularly as new information becomes available to us. If you are ever in question of anything, feel free to reach out to the Hyde County Health Department at 252-926-4387 or email us at [email protected].